LOOK: Total solar eclipse, some images of this rare celestial show

By: Agence France Presse August 13,2026 - 09:35 AM

Millions of Europeans contemplated the sky in awe today (August 12, August 13 in the Philippines) during a rare total solar eclipse that plunged a swathe of Spain into an eerie daytime darkness.

The shadow cast when the Moon covers the Sun began in Russia’s remote Arctic north at around 1700 GMT and continued in an arc through Greenland and Iceland. Spain is where most people viewed the total eclipse, which crossed the country diagonally from the northern Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean Sea, where it vanished at around 1830 GMT.

This is the first total solar eclipse to be visible in mainland Europe since 2006, and it has drawn gasps of awe from tourists and those who witnessed the rare celestial phenomenon.

Day turned into night for a few minutes in Spain when the spectral glow of the Sun’s outer corona, shimmering out of the edges of the shadowy Moon, drew gasps and cheers from huge crowds, just 90 minutes after it first appeared in the remote Arctic region of northern Russia.

Here are some of the Agence France Presse images of what is described as one of nature’s greatest spectacles.

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